Activision Won’t Pursue Something Similar to EA Access Until the Model is Proven

August 6, 2014
Written by Jason Dunning

With EA launching EA Access – a $5/month subscription service that offers access to older titles and early access to new ones – for the Xbox One (but not PlayStation 4), Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg was asked during the Activision Blizzard earnings call yesterday if he thought they’d be doing something similar.

Not giving a definitive answer one way or the other, Hirshberg did reveal that it’s not something currently on the radar:

As you know, we have a very focused strategy as a company, and we tend to focus our resources and our people on the biggest and best creative and commercial opportunities. And right now, I think we have our strongest slate ever and we’re broadening that slate, so we have a lot to focus on and a lot to make sure we get right in the coming months to keep our tentpole franchises driving and establishing new ones as well. And we think everything we’re working on has huge potential.

So of course we’re always looking at new opportunities to better serve our players and our communities; and we’re always evaluating new business models. And once those models are proven, we’ll pursue them if we think it makes sense for our players and for our business. But right now we’re continuing to focus on the things we discussed on our call, which include a wide range of business and monetization models, all of which will deliver we think the best experience for our fans and a great return for our shareholders.